严重事故如何让市值50亿美元的无人机初创公司偏离正轨

四角池

Shield AI executives overlooked its V-BAT drone’s safety hazards, Forbes found. Now with sales falling short and the CEO stepping down, the company is trying to win back military customers.《福布斯》发现，护盾人工智能公司（Shield AI）的高管忽视了其V-BAT无人机的安全隐患。如今，由于销售业绩不佳且首席执行官辞职，该公司正试图赢回军方客户。

In 在April of 2024, 2024年4月 a handful of U.S. Navy officers gathered outside of Fort Stockton, Texas, to watch defense tech unicorn Shield AI demo its latest drone. Called the V-BAT, the autonomous aircraft was designed to launch and land vertically without a runway and could be piloted through war zones where GPS wasn’t reliable. Shield had yet to announce a major contract for it, and the U.S. Navy’s support was crucial to the company’s hopes to sell thousands of the $1 million drones to the Pentagon.

一小群美国海军军官聚集在得克萨斯州斯托克顿堡外，观看国防科技独角兽企业Shield AI展示其最新款无人机。这款名为V-BAT的无人驾驶飞机被设计成无需跑道即可垂直起降，且能在GPS信号不稳定的战区飞行。Shield尚未宣布获得有关这款无人机的重大合同，而美国海军的支持对于该公司向五角大楼出售数千架价值100万美元的无人机的期望至关重要。

But as the 12-foot-long V-BAT came in for a landing, things went sideways. Unlike most drones, which don’t require physical intervention, Shield’s operators needed to assist the drone in landing vertically, like a SpaceX rocket. Instead it dropped to the ground and tipped over, resulting in a grisly incident: When a U.S. service member approached the drone, his fingers were caught in the spinning blades and partially severed.但当这架12英尺长的V-BAT无人机准备降落时，情况出现了偏差。与大多数无需人工干预的无人机不同，“护盾”系统的操作员需要像SpaceX火箭那样，协助这架无人机垂直降落。然而，它却坠落到地面并翻倒，导致了一起严重事故：一名美军士兵靠近这架无人机时，手指被旋转的螺旋桨卷入，部分手指被切断。

Shield AI has emerged as a lead contender in the increasingly crowded race against competitors like Anduril and AeroVironment to outfit the U.S. military with killer drones. The 5 billion-valued startup, founded in 2015 by brothers Ryan and Brandon Tseng, sells a suite of hardware and products, including autonomous piloting software that has been used to fly fighter jets. In March, it raised 240 million in a funding round led by Korean conglomerate Hanwha and American defense contractor L3Harris with the goal of preparing the military for the future of autonomous warfare.

希尔迪人工智能公司（Shield AI）已成为与安杜里尔（Anduril）和航境公司（AeroVironment）等竞争对手角逐的主要参与者，这场竞争愈发激烈，各方都在争取为美军配备杀伤性无人机。这家估值50亿美元的初创公司由曾瑞安（Ryan Tseng）和曾布兰登（Brandon Tseng）兄弟于2015年创立，销售一系列硬件和产品，其中包括用于驾驶战斗机的自动驾驶软件。今年3月，该公司在由韩国企业集团韩华（Hanwha）和美国国防承包商L3哈里斯（L3Harris）牵头的一轮融资中筹集了2.4亿美元，旨在让美军为未来的自主战争做好准备。

The V-BAT, though, has been the company’s primary revenue driver. “I have personally led the effort to scale revenues from zero to hundreds of millions of dollars in the defense sector,” Brandon Tseng, a former Navy SEAL, told a Congressional committee in September, “something maybe only three to five people have achieved in the past 30 years.”

不过，V-BAT垂直起降战术无人机一直是该公司的主要收入来源。前海豹突击队队员布兰登·曾（Brandon Tseng）在9月向国会一个委员会表示：“我亲自带领团队将国防领域的收入从零提升到数亿美元，过去30年里，或许只有三到五个人做到过这一点。”

Shield’s 1,000-strong workforce has been encouraged to embody a warrior ethos, with slogans like “Do what honor dictates” and “Live as a servant leader.” But the incident with the U.S. Navy, which hasn’t previously been reported, has spotlighted the risks brought by a new generation of hard-charging military startups seeking Pentagon contracts while hyping their companies to Silicon Valley investors, sometimes at the expense of physical safety.

希尔盾公司拥有1000多名员工，公司鼓励他们秉持一种战士精神，提出了诸如“按荣誉的指引行事”和“以服务型领导者的姿态生活”等口号。但这起与美国海军相关且此前未被报道的事件，凸显了新一代积极进取的军事初创企业所带来的风险。这些企业一边寻求五角大楼的合同，一边向硅谷的投资者大肆宣传自己的公司，有时甚至是以人身安全为代价。

“The V-BAT was not as...mature as I had thought it was when we acquired the company.” “V-BAT无人机并不像……我们收购那家公司时我所认为的那样成熟。”

Ryan Tseng, Shield AI CEO

A spokesperson for U.S. Naval Special Warfare Command said in a statement that the service member had three fingers partially amputated during the incident. The person made a full recovery after four months and is now “performing all duties without limitations.” (The service member declined to comment.) The spokesperson declined to provide information about the result of an investigation into the incident, and directed requests to the U.S. Naval Safety Command, which declined to comment.

美国海军特种作战司令部的一名发言人在一份声明中称，这名军人在事故中三根手指部分截肢。四个月后该军人完全康复，现在“执行所有任务不受限制”。（这名军人拒绝置评。）该发言人拒绝透露对这起事件的调查结果，并将问询指向美国海军安全司令部，后者也拒绝置评。

CEO Ryan Tseng, confirming the U.S. Navy incident to Forbes, said that flight restrictions were imposed on the drone by U.S. military customers for several months. “It's the opposite of our mission if somebody gets hurt,” Tseng said in an interview with Forbes. “We exist to protect service members and civilians.”

首席执行官曾瑞安（Ryan Tseng）向《福布斯》证实了这起美国海军事件，他表示，美国军方客户对该无人机实施了数月的飞行限制。曾在接受《福布斯》采访时表示：“如果有人受伤，那就与我们的使命背道而驰。我们的存在是为了保护军人和平民。”

Tseng said that the V-BAT “had been flying almost 10 years, with a perfect safety record,” adding, “The event was a surprise, and it was one that, frankly, I feel terribly about.”

曾表示，V-BAT“已经飞行了近10年，有着完美的安全记录”，他还补充道，“这次事件很意外，坦率地说，对此我深感痛心。”

But Forbes found that for years, as Shield raised hundreds of millions of dollars from investors like Andreessen Horowitz and billionaire Thomas Tull’s USIT, its executives overlooked engineering issues and safety hazards that ultimately scuttled contract opportunities, according to former employees, internal documents and legal filings.

但据前员工、内部文件和法律文件显示，多年来，在Shield从安德森·霍洛维茨（Andreessen Horowitz）和亿万富翁托马斯·图尔（Thomas Tull）的USIT等投资者那里筹集数亿美元资金的同时，其高管却忽视了工程问题和安全隐患，这些问题最终导致合同机会泡汤。

In 2022, almost two years before the U.S. Navy member was injured, Shield’s then-quality assurance manager “reported a safety issue involving danger of propeller strike/injury to personnel due to unsafe blower handling,” according to a lawsuit he filed against the company in October related to disability accommodation (at the time, Shield denied the safety claims in its legal response; the lawsuit was settled). Then in 2023, an employee’s shirt was sucked into a propeller and shredded during a test flight, according to multiple people, one of whom raised alarms internally.

2022年，也就是这名美国海军成员受伤的近两年前，希尔德公司当时的质量保证经理“报告了一个安全问题，称由于风机操作不当，存在螺旋桨击中人员/造成人员受伤的危险”，这是他10月就残疾员工安置问题对该公司提起诉讼时所说（当时，希尔德公司在法律回应中否认了这些安全指控；该诉讼已达成和解）。据多名人士称，2023年，一名员工的衬衫在一次试飞中被卷入螺旋桨并绞碎，其中一人在公司内部发出了警报。

Brandon Tseng, president and co-founder of Shield AI, said he plans to remain at Shield “forever, until our mission is accomplished at grand scale.”

护盾人工智能公司（Shield AI）总裁兼联合创始人曾布兰登（Brandon Tseng）表示，他打算“永远留在护盾，直到我们大规模完成使命”。

After flagging concerns about the V-BAT to executives, two former employees told Forbes they were fired; they said they were aware of several other employees being fired for similar reasons. Two others told Forbes they became disillusioned and resigned when no action was taken regarding their complaints about the drone. “You either had to do what you were told, or you would be let go,” said one former employee who worked on the V-BAT and was fired last year. “Even though we knew from experience what they wanted us to do was unethical.”

在向高管们指出对V-BAT的担忧后，两名前员工告诉《福布斯》，他们被解雇了；他们称，他们知道还有其他几名员工因类似原因被解雇。另外两名员工则告诉《福布斯》，在他们对这款无人机的投诉未得到任何回应后，他们幻想破灭，选择辞职。“你要么照吩咐去做，要么就走人，” 一名曾参与V-BAT项目且去年被解雇的前员工说道，“尽管我们凭经验知道，他们要求我们做的事不道德。”

“I reject the notion that we don't take concerns seriously,” Tseng said. “We have a culture where across the organization, people call balls and strikes as they see them.”

曾表示：“我不认同我们没有认真对待相关担忧的说法。在我们的企业文化中，整个公司上下的员工都会如实反映情况。”

When asked why Shield AI didn’t adequately address the propeller hazard when employees first flagged it, Tseng said “numerous” safety improvements had been made to the V-BAT. “Today, V-BAT retains a perfect record of no injuries when following trained procedures,” he said.

当被问及为何员工首次指出螺旋桨隐患时，希尔德人工智能公司（Shield AI）没有妥善处理，曾（Tseng）表示，V-BAT已经进行了“大量”安全改进。他说：“如今，V-BAT在遵循既定操作程序的情况下，保持着无人受伤的完美记录。”

Tseng said the company has since passed two Pentagon safety audits (the units that conducted the audits didn’t respond to a comment request). He also said Shield has addressed the propeller hazard in an upgrade to the V-BAT announced last month, which included new landing gear that removed the need for human assistance during landing and take-off. He added that the drones now have warning stickers near the fan ducts, and that employees wear flight suits — a requirement imposed after the incident involving the shredded shirt. “We have continuously invested in a safety culture,” he said.

曾表示，该公司此后已通过五角大楼的两次安全审计（进行审计的部门未回应置评请求）。他还说，Shield公司在上个月宣布的V-BAT升级版中，已经解决了螺旋桨的安全隐患，其中包括新的起落架，这使得无人机在起降时无需人工协助。他补充说，现在无人机的风扇管道附近贴有警示贴纸，而且员工要穿飞行服，这是在发生衬衫被绞碎的事件后提出的要求。“我们一直在不断投入，营造安全文化，”他说。

The company had hoped to generate more than $400 million in revenue and become profitable this year, mostly due to V-BAT sales, according to financial projections shared with investors in 2023 obtained by Forbes. Shield no longer expects to hit those financial targets, or reach profitability in 2025, Tseng told Forbes. “The mishap delayed the decision process of many potential customers domestically and internationally,” he said in a written comment. “We are back on track now.”

据《福布斯》获得的2023年与投资者分享的财务预测，该公司原本希望今年营收超过4亿美元并实现盈利，这主要得益于V-BAT的销售。曾先生告诉《福布斯》，Shield不再期望实现这些财务目标，也不指望在2025年实现盈利。他在一份书面评论中表示：“这一意外事件推迟了国内外许多潜在客户的决策进程。我们现在已重回正轨。”

Tseng told Forbes that Shield has recently signed contracts valued at more than 100 million for European government customers, including for V-BATs sent to Ukraine (he declined to disclose the customers). The company also has a [five-year V-BAT contract](https://www.dcms.uscg.mil/Our-Or ... aircraft-system-ca/) with the U.S. Coast Guard, with a potential 200 million value if the order is fulfilled, and announced agreements with Taiwan and Japan governments, but has not disclosed their value.

曾告诉《福布斯》，Shield最近与欧洲政府客户签订了价值超过1亿美元的合同，其中包括向乌克兰发送的V - BAT（他拒绝透露客户信息）。该公司还与美国海岸警卫队签订了一份为期五年的V - BAT合同，如果订单完成，潜在价值可达2亿美元。此外，该公司还宣布与台湾地区和日本政府达成协议，但未披露协议价值。

In the months after the U.S. Navy incident, Tseng said he suggested to the board that he should step down as CEO. “I have always felt like I owed this team the absolute best possible leader,” he said. “I was the guy on the side of the ship as it was racing forward.”

曾仕伦说，在美国海军事件发生后的几个月里，他向董事会提议自己辞去首席执行官一职。“我一直觉得，这个团队理应拥有最出色的领导者，”他说。“船在飞速前进，而我却站在一旁。”

Last month, Tseng announced publicly he would step aside, telling Forbes he would become co-president of the company with his brother. A new CEO, Gary Steele, who previously led cybersecurity companies Splunk and Proofpoint, is set to take over this month. “I'm excited to work with him to build a great company that makes mission impact,” Tseng said. As for the co-president role: “Brandon and I will both take on external facing roles, forming relationships with customers globally.”

上个月，曾公开宣布他将卸任，并告诉《福布斯》杂志，他将与弟弟共同担任公司总裁。新任首席执行官加里·斯蒂尔（Gary Steele）曾领导过网络安全公司Splunk和Proofpoint，他将于本月接任。曾表示：“我很高兴能与他合作，打造一家具有重大使命影响力的伟大公司。” 至于共同总裁一职，他称：“布兰登和我都将承担对外事务，与全球客户建立关系。”

The company declined to provide a comment from Steele. Brandon Tseng said in a statement he plans to remain at Shield “forever, until our mission is accomplished at grand scale.”

该公司拒绝提供斯蒂尔的评论。曾明（Brandon Tseng）在一份声明中表示，他计划“永远留在护盾公司（Shield），直到我们大规模地完成使命”。

Investors Hanwha, Andreessen Horowitz and USIT didn’t respond to a comment request. “Shield AI is proving that autonomy at scale is not only possible but inevitable,” L3Harris spokesperson Sara Banda said in a statement.

投资者韩华集团（Hanwha）、安德森·霍洛维茨基金（Andreessen Horowitz）和美国创新科技投资公司（USIT）未回应置评请求。L3哈里斯公司发言人萨拉·班达（Sara Banda）在一份声明中表示：“Shield AI正在证明，大规模自主化不仅是可能的，而且是必然的。”

L Launched in 2015, 于2015年推出， Shield AI initially aimed to solve a fatal problem dogging U.S. service members in the Middle East: clearing buildings held by adversaries. Brandon Tseng was intimately familiar with the danger as a former SEAL, and pitched Ryan — an entrepreneur who had sold a startup that made wireless charging pads to Qualcomm — on a company to sell drones that could fly through buildings and detect dangers before soldiers went in.

护盾人工智能公司（Shield AI）最初旨在解决困扰驻中东美军人员的一个致命问题：清除敌方占据的建筑物。布兰登·曾（Brandon Tseng）曾是一名海豹突击队队员，对这种危险了如指掌。他向瑞安（Ryan）提出了创立一家公司的想法，瑞安是一名企业家，此前将一家生产无线充电板的初创公司卖给了高通公司（Qualcomm）。这家新公司计划出售能在建筑物内飞行的无人机，在士兵进入之前探测危险。

Its first product, a quadcopter called Nova they claimed could autonomously navigate buildings, helped Shield secure early investment from the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit and Andreessen Horowitz, which led two early funding rounds into the company totalling $30 million. But as the U.S. shifted its focus from Middle East war zones to China tensions, the Nova drones struggled to secure larger Pentagon contracts. The company said it no longer sells the Nova.

该公司的首款产品是一款名为“新星”（Nova）的四轴飞行器，他们称该飞行器能够自主在建筑物内导航。这一产品帮助护盾公司（Shield）从五角大楼的国防创新部门（Defense Innovation Unit）以及安德森·霍洛维茨风险投资公司（Andreessen Horowitz）获得了早期投资，这两家机构主导了对该公司的两轮早期融资，总计3000万美元。但随着美国将重点从中东战区转向中美紧张局势，“新星”无人机难以获得五角大楼更大的合同。该公司表示不再销售“新星”无人机。

In 2021, Shield acquired Martin UAV, a longtime developer of the V-BAT, and sold investors on its potential with plans to enhance the device using its autonomous AI software, known as Hivemind, which it claimed could allow a single person to pilot multiple V-BATs. Investors, including Point72 Ventures, poured in 200 million for a funding round that valued the company at 1 billion. “We want to climb the unmanned systems food chain,” Tseng told Fortune at the time. (Point72 declined to comment.)

2021年，Shield收购了V - BAT的长期开发商Martin UAV，并向投资者兜售其潜力，计划利用其名为Hivemind的自主人工智能软件对该设备进行升级，该公司称该软件可让一个人操控多架V - BAT。包括Point72 Ventures在内的投资者在一轮融资中注入2亿美元，使该公司估值达到10亿美元。“我们希望在无人系统的产业链中向上攀升，”曾在当时接受《财富》杂志采访时表示。（Point72拒绝置评。）

Shield AI said its V-BAT drones have completed more than 150 missions in Ukraine.护盾人工智能公司（Shield AI）表示，其V-BAT无人机已在乌克兰完成150多次任务。

U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Alexis Flores美国海军陆战队亚历克西斯·弗洛雷斯中士拍摄

But the V-BAT, which had been in development for more than a decade, was an imperfect drone with limited success selling to the Pentagon. The aircraft was plagued by product defects, including cracked fuselages and faulty fuel systems that clogged with air bubbles, according to six former employees. The engineering issues were evident during multiple demos with U.S. military officials when V-BATs fell out of the sky; for example, two were lost in as many days during one set of demos for the U.S. Navy at a California facility in 2023, according to a person who was there (which Tseng confirmed). In other cases, the V-BATs crashed into the ocean during flight tests from ships (“We have lost aircraft over the ocean, as has every other vendor of [comparable] aircraft,” Tseng said).

但已经研发了十多年的V-BAT无人机并不完美，向五角大楼的销售成绩有限。六名前员工称，该飞行器饱受产品缺陷困扰，包括机身开裂以及燃油系统故障，燃油系统会被气泡堵塞。据一名在场人士（曾景祥证实了此事）称，在与美军官员进行的多次演示中，V-BAT的工程问题暴露无遗，它会从空中坠落；例如，2023年在美国海军于加利福尼亚一处设施进行的一次演示中，两天内就损失了两架。在其他情况下，V-BAT在从舰船上进行飞行测试时坠入大海（曾景祥说：“我们的飞行器在海上坠毁过，其他（类似）飞行器的供应商也有这种情况。”）

“The V-BAT was not as, I'll just speak for myself, mature as I had thought it was when we acquired the company,” Tseng said. “And the people we bought the company from, frankly, I think that they thought it was more mature than it was.”

“就我个人而言，V-BAT并没有我们收购这家公司时我想象的那么成熟，” 曾说道。“坦率地讲，卖给我们公司的那些人，我觉得他们也高估了V-BAT的成熟度。”

N Now, Tseng says the company’s woes are in the past.现在，曾表示该公司的困境已成为过去。 In addition to addressing the propeller hazard, Shield announced a major overhaul of the V-BAT last month. With the Hivemind software, it can fly more than 80 miles and stay in the air for more than 13 hours, while carrying more than 40 pounds of payload. In Ukraine, V-BATs have completed more than 150 missions, he said. The “aircraft is, tip to tail, just a radically better airplane,” Tseng said.

除了解决螺旋桨带来的危险，希尔德公司上个月还宣布对V-BAT进行重大改造。借助Hivemind软件，它可以飞行超过80英里，在空中停留超过13小时，同时携带超过40磅的有效载荷。他说，在乌克兰，V-BAT已经完成了150多次任务。曾表示，“这架飞机从头到尾，就是一架彻底改进的飞机。”

He plans to stay with Shield “as long as possible.” In recent months, he has championed a flurry of announcements — a software partnership with Palantir to control autonomous systems, and with Airbus to install Hivemind on an autonomous helicopter. Shield has $1.9 billion in “credible opportunities in our sales pipeline,” he added, and the company expects to announce new European contracts in the coming months

.他计划“尽可能久地”留在护盾公司（Shield）。近几个月来，他推动了一系列公告发布——与帕兰提尔（Palantir）达成软件合作以控制自主系统，与空客（Airbus）合作在一架无人直升机上安装蜂巢思维（Hivemind）。他补充说，护盾公司“销售渠道中有19亿美元的‘可靠商机’”，并且该公司预计在未来几个月内宣布新的欧洲合同。

But plans for the V-BAT were notably absent from the press release announcing Shield’s latest funding in March. Instead, the company focused on how it would use the new capital to scale its Hivemind platform — ideal for its new CEO, Steele, whose background is in software. “I think he'll be better at the job than me,” Tseng said.

但在3月份宣布Shield最新一轮融资的新闻稿中，明显没有提及V-BAT的相关计划。相反，该公司重点阐述了将如何利用这笔新资金扩大其Hivemind平台规模，这对新任首席执行官斯蒂尔来说是个理想方向，他的背景是软件领域。“我认为他会比我更胜任这份工作。” 曾说道。

Still, the brothers continue to talk a big game. “I can confidently say no defense-tech company started after 2015 has made more strategic impact on the battlefield than @ShieldAI,” Brandon posted on X last week.尽管如此，这兄弟俩仍继续夸夸其谈。“我可以自信地说，自2015年以来成立的国防科技公司，没有哪家在战场上产生的战略影响比@ShieldAI更大，” 布兰登上周在X平台上发文称。

Ryan agrees. “I don't want to name companies,” he said, “but I think that we have made a really tremendous impact.”瑞安表示认同。“我不想提及具体公司的名字，” 他说，“但我认为我们已经产生了巨大的影响。”